Operating device for an air vent and air vent

ABSTRACT

An operating device for an air vent which includes at least one swiveling vane, the operating device having a first operating lever which has a first lever arm, a second lever arm, and a bearing member which is arranged therebetween, the first operating lever being mounted around the bearing member for swiveling about a swivel pin, and a second operating lever which has a first lever arm, a second lever arm, and a bearing member which is arranged therebetween, the second operating lever being mounted around the bearing member for swiveling about a swivel pin, the first lever arm of the second operating lever being coupled to the second lever arm of the first operating lever and the second lever arm of the second operating lever being adapted to be coupled for swiveling motion to the vane.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.14/283,251, filed May 21, 2014, which claims priority to DE ApplicationNo. 10 2013 105 927.9, filed Jun. 7, 2013, both of which are herebyincorporated by reference in their entireties.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to an operating device for an air ventincluding at least one swiveling vane. The invention further relates toan air vent.

Air vents having vanes for deflecting the airstream include, forexample, a central operating member for swiveling the vanes. Where onlyone group of vanes is provided, with the vanes being parallel andcoupled to each other, the operating member is attached directly to oneof the vanes, so that by moving the operating member, the vanes can beswiveled directly in the direction in which the operating member isswiveled.

Where provision is made for two groups of vanes arranged one behind theother, for example perpendicular to each other, it is not possible todirectly operate the vanes positioned at the rear as viewed from theinterior of the vehicle because they are covered by the front vanes. Butit is desirable for reasons of convenience to swivel both groups ofvanes using one operating member.

For operating the rear vanes, provision is made in the prior art for alever on the operating member, the lever projecting on the rear side andbeing coupled in an articulated fashion to a vane of the rear group ofvanes. The lever is part of, or connected with, the operating member andis mounted jointly therewith at a front vane or in the air vent in anarticulated fashion. When the operating member is swiveled, the rearvanes are swiveled by the lever in the opposite direction.

These operating devices have the drawback that the rear vanes areswiveled in opposition to the swivel direction of the operating member,whereas the swivel direction of the front vanes corresponds to theswivel direction of the operating member. This requires a frequentrethinking on the part of the vehicle occupant, which may cause thedriver of the vehicle to be distracted.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the invention to provide an operating device for anair vent which allows a simple and intuitive operation of an air vent. Afurther object of the invention is to provide an air vent having such anoperating device.

To achieve the object, provision is made for an operating device for anair vent which includes at least one swiveling vane, the operatingdevice including a first operating lever which has a first lever arm, asecond lever arm, and a bearing member which is arranged therebetween,the first operating lever being mounted around the bearing member forswiveling about a swivel pin, and including a second operating leverwhich has a first lever arm, a second lever arm, and a bearing memberwhich is arranged therebetween, the second operating lever being mountedaround the bearing member for swiveling about a swivel pin. The firstlever arm of the second operating lever is coupled to the second leverarm of the first operating lever, and the second lever arm of the secondoperating lever is adapted to be coupled for swiveling motion to thevane. Both operating levers can be mounted in the air vent with thebearing members, for example at a front vane as viewed from the interiorof the vehicle. The mode of functioning of the first operating levercorresponds to that of a lever as is known from an air vent from theprior art, which is firmly connected with an operating element and canbe swiveled jointly with it. According to the invention, a secondoperating lever is arranged between this first operating lever and thevane and can also be mounted for swiveling motion in the air vent. Thesecond operating lever is connected for swiveling motion both with thefirst operating lever and the vane and can be swiveled about the bearingmember. Since the second operating lever is coupled to the firstoperating lever, it is swiveled in opposition to the first operatinglever, by analogy with the vane of an air vent known from the prior art.The vane coupled to the second operating lever is, in turn, swiveled inopposition to the second operating lever, that is, in the same directionas the first operating lever. This causes the vane to be swiveled eachtime in the swivel direction of the first operating lever or of anoperating member provided on the first operating lever. As a result,this allows a more intuitive operation of an air vent having such anoperating device since the swiveling of the vanes and, hence, thedeflection of the air always occurs in the direction in which anoperating member is swiveled.

Particularly in an air vent having two pairs of vanes that areperpendicular to each other, a considerably simpler operation ispossible. The operating device is mounted, for example, on a front vaneas viewed from the interior of the vehicle, the first operating leverbeing adapted to be operated from the interior of the vehicle. The frontvane can be operated by swiveling the first operating lever and, thus,the entire operating device. By swiveling the first operating lever inthe plane of the front vanes, the rear vane is adjusted by means of theoperating device according to the invention, the rear vane likewisebeing adjusted each time in the swivel direction of the first operatinglever. This means that both pairs of vanes are each time swiveled in thedirection of actuation of the operating device, allowing an intuitiveoperation.

To make sure that the vane is swiveled exactly in opposition to thefirst operating lever, the swivel pins of the first and second operatinglevers are preferably arranged parallel to each other. In particular,the swivel pin of the vane which is coupled to the second lever arm ofthe second operating lever may also be arranged parallel to these swivelpins.

The operating levers may be mounted within the housing of the air ventor on a front vane as viewed from the interior of the vehicle. But it isalso possible that a separate housing part is provided which includes abearing seat for the bearing members of the first and second operatinglevers. This allows the operating device to be preassembled as a unitconsisting of the first and second operating levers and of the housingpart. This unit can then be mounted within the air vent, for example toa vane. This allows a considerably simpler and more rapid assembly of anair vent having such an operating device. Also, no additional bearingseats for the operating levers are needed on the air vent.

The bearing seats each include, for example, an insertion section and alocking mechanism for the bearing members. The operating levers maysimply be pushed into the insertion sections until they lock in place inthe bearing seats, so that the bearing members can be simply assembledwith no tools needed.

To fix the housing part in place in the air vent, for example on a vane,the housing part, in particular on the outer periphery thereof, includesholding members intended for fitting the housing part to the air vent.These holding members may more particularly be locking members, so thatthe housing part may be simply inserted into the air vent and be lockedin place therein.

Coupling the first to the second operating lever and coupling the secondoperating lever to the vane can be effected in any suitable manner.However, changes in lengths appear due to the changes in the anglesbetween the operating levers and between the two operating levers andthe vane, so that a coupling having a length compensation in thelongitudinal direction of the operating levers is of advantage. To thisend, preferably the first lever arm of the second operating lever or thesecond lever arm of the first operating lever has a forked-shaped seatprovided thereon, and the second lever arm of the first operating leveror the first lever arm of the second operating lever has a pivotprovided thereon which projects into the forked-shaped seat and ismounted therein for rotation and for displacement in the longitudinaldirection of the seat. The operating levers are thereby coupled to eachother for swiveling motion. But a length compensation is possiblenonetheless by shifting the pivot in the forked-shaped seat in thelongitudinal direction. This type of coupling further has the advantagethat the operating levers can be simply mounted to each other by pushingthem into each other from opposite directions, for example from oppositesides of a housing part.

The coupling of the second operating lever to the vane is also effected,for example, by means of a forked-shaped seat and a pivot which projectsinto the forked-shaped seat. The forked-shaped seat is preferablyprovided on the second operating lever. This means that the second leverarm of the second operating lever may also have a forked-shaped seatprovided thereon which receives a pivot provided on the vane, or mayhave a pivot provided thereon which engages in a forked-shaped seatprovided on the vane.

The bearing members may be bearing pins, for example, which extend inthe longitudinal direction of the swivel pins.

The swivel pins of the first and second operating levers and that of thevane are preferably arranged parallel to each other and moreparticularly lie in one plane. In the direction of flow of the air venttowards the vehicle interior the swivel pins of the operating levers arepreferably located upstream of the vane, with the swivel pin of thefirst operating lever being closest to the vehicle interior, so that thefirst operating lever can be adjusted from the vehicle interior.

Such an air vent may also have at least one second swiveling vaneprovided thereon, the swivel pin of the second vane being moreparticularly arranged transverse to the swivel pin of the first vane,and the second vane being arranged downstream of the first vane in thedirection of flow of the air vent.

In such an embodiment, the bearing seats for the bearing members areprovided on the second vane, for example. That is, the operating leversare swivel-mounted on the second vane. As a result, a direct swivelingof the second vane is possible by swiveling the first operating lever ina first direction of actuation, perpendicular to the plane of the secondvane or the swivel pin of the second vane. The first vane is swiveled byswiveling in a second direction of actuation, perpendicular to the firstdirection of actuation, i.e. in the plane of the second vane. Thisoperating device thus allows the two vanes to be swiveled separatelyfrom each other, the swiveling direction of the vanes in each casecorresponding to the swiveling direction of the first operating lever.

The bearing seats may be provided directly on the second vane. But it isalso possible that the second vane has a housing part provided thereonwhich has the bearing seats for the bearing members of the first andsecond operating levers. This allows the operating device to bepreassembled and subsequently applied to the second vane.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Further advantages and features will be apparent from the descriptionbelow, given in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 shows a front view of an operating device from the prior art;

FIG. 2 shows a top view of the operating member of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 shows a top view of an air vent according to the invention withan operating member according to the invention;

FIG. 4 shows the air vent of FIG. 3 with the operating device in aswiveled state;

FIG. 5 shows an exploded view of the operating member of the air vent ofFIG. 3; and

FIG. 6 shows the operating member of FIG. 5 in an assembled state.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

FIGS. 1 and 2 show an operating device 10′ from the prior art in an airvent 12′ of which only parts are illustrated here. The air vent 12′ hasa first, rear vent 14′ as viewed from the vehicle interior and a second,front vane 16′ as viewed from the vehicle interior. The two vanes areeach adapted to be swiveled about a swivel pin 18′, 20′.

The air vent 12′ includes further vanes, not illustrated here, which arearranged parallel to the first and second vanes 14′, 16′, respectively.The parallel vanes are each coupled to the first or to the second vane14′, 16′, so that they can be swiveled jointly with the first or thesecond vane 14′, 16′.

The operating device 10′ includes an operating lever 22′ which ismounted on the second vane 16′ for swiveling about a swivel pin 24′. Asis shown in FIG. 2, the operating lever 22′ is coupled for swivelingmotion to the first vane 14′.

When the operating lever 22′ is swiveled upwards or downwards inrelation to FIG. 1, the second vane 16′ coupled to the operating lever22′ is moved up or down together with the operating lever 22′ about theswivel pin 20′. The swivel direction of the vane 16′ thus corresponds tothe swivel direction of the operating lever 22′.

In order to operate the first vane 14′ located behind the second vane16′, the operating lever 22′ is swiveled about its swivel pin 24′ on thesecond vane 16′, i.e. in the plane of the second vane 16′. As can beseen in FIG. 2, when the operating lever 22′ is swiveled, the first vane14′, however, is swiveled about the swivel pin 18′ oppositely to theoperating lever 22′.

Therefore, the swivel direction of the first vane 14′ and thus thedirection of deflection of the airstream is each time in opposition tothe swivel direction of the operating lever 22′, whereas when the secondvane 16′ is operated, the swivel direction of the operating lever 22′corresponds to the swivel direction of the second vane 16′. Thus,depending on which of the vanes 14′, 16′ is operated by the vehicleoccupant, that is, the first vanes 14′ or the second vanes 16′, thevehicle occupant needs to rethink whether he/she needs to move theoperating lever in the desired direction of the airstream or contrarythereto.

The operating device for an air vent, illustrated in FIGS. 3 to 6,eliminates this drawback.

The air vent 12, parts of which are shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, also has twogroups of vanes, with parallel vanes which are coupled to each other andcan therefore be swiveled jointly. For reasons of clarity, only thefirst vane 14 and the second vane 16 are shown here, which are coupledto the operating device 10.

To this end, the operating device 10 according to the invention includesa first operating lever 22 and a second operating lever 26. Each of theoperating levers includes a first lever arm 30, 32 and a second leverarm 34, 36. A respective bearing member 38, 40 is provided between thefirst lever arm 30, 32 and the second lever arm 34, 36 and, as can beseen in particular in FIG. 5, includes a bearing pin 39, 41. Thesebearing members 38, 40 serve to mount the first operating lever 22 and,respectively, the second operating lever 26 for swiveling motion about arespective swivel pin 24, 28 (FIGS. 3 and 4).

In this embodiment, the swivel pins 24, 28 are arranged parallel to eachother and, in a neutral position of the second vane 16, parallel to theswivel pin 18 of the first vane 14. Further, as can be seen inparticular in FIG. 3, all three swivel pins 24, 28, 18 are arranged inone plane, the swivel pin of the first vane being arranged upstream inthe flow direction S, and the swivel pin 24 of the first operating lever22 being arranged downstream in the flow direction S. The swivel pin 28of the second operating lever 26 is arranged between the swivel pins 18,24.

The operating device 10 further includes a housing part 42 which hasbearing seats 44, 46 provided therein for the bearing members 38, 40 ofthe operating levers 22, 26. This housing part 42 is inserted in arecess 48 on the second vane 16 contrary to the flow direction S, thatis, from the front as viewed from the vehicle interior, and is fixed inplace therein.

Further provided on the first lever arm 30 of the first operating lever22 is an operating knob 50.

The second vane 16, at which the operating device 10 is held, isoperated analogously to the air vent 12′ from the prior art as shown inFIGS. 1 and 2.

The first operating lever 22 or the operating knob 50 are swiveledupwards or downwards with respect to FIGS. 5 and 6, causing the secondvane 16 to be swiveled about its swivel pin 20 jointly with the firstoperating lever 22.

When the operating knob on the second vane 16 is swiveled in a swiveldirection in the plane of the second vane 16 to swivel the first vane14, the second operating lever is swiveled in opposition to the swiveldirection S (FIG. 4). The vane 14, which is coupled to the secondoperating lever 26, is swiveled in opposition to the second operatinglever 26, i.e. in the same swivel direction as the first operating lever22.

As against the prior art according to FIGS. 1 and 2, the swiveldirection of the vane is thus reversed by the second operating lever 26which, in a way, serves as a transfer or conversion lever, so that thisswivel direction is identical with the swivel direction of the firstoperating lever 22 and the operating knob 50.

This allows a considerably more intuitive and quicker operation of anair vent 12 since, for both vanes 14, 16, the swivel direction of thefirst operating lever 22 and of the operating knob 50 corresponds to theswivel direction of the vanes 14, 16.

The length of the lever arms 30, 32, 34, 36 and the position of thebearing members 38, 40 at the operating levers 22, 26 can be selected asdesired, to obtain a desired transmission ratio between the swiveling ofthe operating knob 50 and the swiveling of the vane 14. For example,with a suitable transmission ratio the vane 14 can be swiveled at thesame swivel angle as the operating knob 50. But it is also conceivablethat a small swivel angle of the operating knob 50 leads to a very largeswiveling of the vane 14.

As can be seen in FIGS. 5 and 6, the operating device 10 consisting ofthe first operating lever 22, the second operating lever 26, the housingpart 42, and the operating knob 50 can be preassembled. Only then is theoperating device 10 mounted to the second vane 16 and coupled to thevane 14 by inserting it into the recess 28 on the second vane 16contrary to the flow direction S, that is, from the front as viewed fromthe vehicle interior.

For a simple assembly of the operating device 10, the bearing seats 44,46 each have insertion slopes 52, 54 provided thereon for the operatinglevers 22, 26 or the bearing members 38, 40 of the operating levers 22,26. The bearing members 38, 40 are each fixed in place in the housingpart 42 by means of a locking mechanism 56, 58 formed by lockingmembers, allowing the operating levers 22, 26 to be mounted in thehousing part 42 without a tool.

Furthermore, locking members 60 are provided on the outer periphery ofthe housing part 42, for fitting the housing part 42 in the recess 48 onthe second vane 16.

The coupling of the first and second operating levers is effected bymeans of a fork-shaped seat 62 which, in the embodiment shown here, isprovided on the first lever arm 32 of the second operating lever 26(FIGS. 3 and 4). Provided on the second lever arm 34 of the firstoperating lever 22 is a pivot 64 which is both swivel-mounted in thefork-shaped seat 62 and also mounted for being shifted in thelongitudinal direction of the fork-shaped seat 62. This mounting allowsa swiveling coupling of the operating levers 22, 26, the fork-shapedseat 62 also permitting a length compensation when the first and secondoperating levers 22, 26 are swiveled (see FIG. 4). The fork-shaped seat62 may, however, also be provided on the second lever arm of the firstoperating lever, and the pivot 64 may be provided on the first lever armof the second operating lever 26.

This coupling additionally offers the advantage that a simple assemblyis possible by inserting the pivot 64 into the fork-shaped seat in thelongitudinal direction. The operating levers 22, 26 may be coupled toeach other, for example, if they are inserted into the housing part 42from different directions.

The coupling of the vane 14 to the second operating lever 26 is effectedin the same way, but is not illustrated in detail here. By analogy withthe coupling of the operating levers 22, 26, the second operating levercan simply engage with the vane 14 when the housing part 42 is pushedinto the recess 48.

Unlike the embodiment illustrated here, the operating levers 22, 26 mayalso be mounted directly at the second vane 16 without the housing part42. More particularly, it is also conceivable that the air vent 12includes only one group of vanes; in this case, the operating device 10may be attached to the air vent.

What is claimed is:
 1. An operating device for an air vent that includesat least one first swiveling vane, the operating device comprising: afirst operating lever including a first lever arm, a second lever armthat is opposite from and coaxial with the first lever arm, and a firstbearing member between the first lever arm and the second lever arm, thefirst operating lever mounted around the first bearing member forswiveling about a first swivel pin, wherein the first lever arm and thesecond lever arm remain coaxial during swiveling motion; and a secondoperating lever including a third lever arm, a fourth lever arm that isopposite from and coaxial with the third lever arm, and a second bearingmember between the third and fourth lever arms, the second operatinglever mounted around the second bearing member for swiveling about asecond swivel pin, wherein the third lever arm and the fourth lever armremain coaxial during swiveling motion, wherein the third lever arm ofthe second operating lever is coupled to the second lever arm of thefirst operating lever, and the fourth lever arm of the second operatinglever is adapted to be coupled for swiveling motion to the at least onefirst swiveling vane.
 2. The operating device of claim 1, wherein thethird lever arm of the second operating lever is directly coupled to thesecond lever arm of the first operating lever.
 3. The operating deviceof claim 1, wherein the first and second swivel pins are parallel toeach other.
 4. The operating device of claim 1, further comprising ahousing part which includes first and second bearing seats for the firstand second bearing members of the first and second operating levers. 5.The operating device of claim 4, wherein the first and second bearingseats each include an insertion section and a locking mechanism for thefirst and second bearing members.
 6. The operating device of claim 4,wherein the housing part comprises locking members on an outer peripheryfor fitting the housing part to the air vent.
 7. The operating device ofclaim 1, wherein the third lever arm of the second operating lever orthe second lever arm of the first operating lever has a forked-shapedseat provided thereon and the second lever arm of the first operatinglever or the third lever arm of the second operating lever has a pivotprovided thereon which projects into the forked-shaped seat and ismounted therein for rotation and for displacement in the longitudinaldirection of the forked-shaped seat.
 8. The operating device of claim 1,wherein the first and second bearing members include bearing pins. 9.The operating device of claim 1, wherein the first lever arm of thefirst operating lever has an operating knob provided thereon.
 10. Theoperating device of claim 1, further comprising an operating knobconnected to the first operating lever.
 11. An air vent comprising theat least one first swiveling vane of the operating device of claim 1,the fourth lever arm of the second operating lever of the operatingdevice being coupled for swiveling motion to the at least one firstswiveling vane.
 12. The air vent of claim 11, wherein the first andsecond swivel pins of the first and second operating levers and a thirdswivel pin of the at least one first swiveling vane lie in one plane.13. The air vent of claim 12, further comprising at least one secondswiveling vane a fourth swivel pin of the at least one second swivelingvane being arranged transverse to the third swivel pin of the at leastone first swiveling vane, and the second swiveling vane being arrangeddownstream of the first swiveling vane.
 14. The air vent of claim 13,wherein the at least one second swiveling vane has bearing seatsprovided thereon for the first and second bearing members of the firstand second operating levers.
 15. The air vent of claim 13, wherein theat least one second swiveling vane has a housing part provided thereonwhich has first and second bearing seats for the first and secondbearing members of the first and second operating levers.
 16. Anoperating device for an air vent having at least one first swivelingvane, the operating device comprising: a first operating lever includinga first lever arm, a second lever arm that is opposite from and coaxialwith the first lever arm, and a first bearing member between the firstlever arm and the second lever arm, the first operating lever mountedaround the first bearing member for swiveling about a first swivel pin,wherein the first lever arm and the second lever arm remain coaxialduring swiveling motion; and an operating knob directly connected to thefirst operating lever.
 17. The operating device of claim 16, wherein theoperating knob is centered with respect to the at least one firstswiveling vane.
 18. The operating device of claim 16, wherein the atleast one first swiveling vane comprises a first swiveling vane and asecond swiveling vane, wherein the operating knob is centered withrespect to both the first swiveling vane and the second swiveling vane.19. The operating device of claim 16, wherein the at least one swivelingvane comprise a front vane and a rear vane, and wherein the operatingknob is centered with respect to the front vane and the rear vane. 20.The operating device of claim 16, further comprising: a second operatinglever including a third lever arm, a fourth lever arm that is oppositefrom and coaxial with the third lever arm, and a second bearing memberbetween the third and fourth lever arms, the second operating levermounted around the second bearing member for swiveling about a secondswivel pin, wherein the third lever arm of the second operating lever iscoupled to the second lever arm of the first operating lever, and thefourth lever arm of the second operating lever is adapted to be coupledfor swiveling motion to the at least one first swiveling vane.